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Central AmericaCuba

Emergency aid in Cuba

Ensuring basic services for those most at risk

Cuba faces a severe social, economic, and humanitarian crisis: About 9 out of 10 people live in poverty. Food, medicine, water, and electricity are becoming increasingly scarce. Together with CCRD-Cuba, we are providing rapid and direct emergency aid to 300 people at risk.

Several bags of emergency supplies, labeled with the logos of AWO International and CCRD-Cuba.
Aid packages are ready at our partner organization, CCRD-Cuba, to be distributed to schools, retirement homes, and centers for people with disabilities.

The situation in Cuba has become dramatically worse in recent years. Poverty, food shortages, insufficient medical care, and prolonged power outages shape the daily life of the population. The causes are multiple: a lack of political reforms and a deteriorating infrastructure are affecting the country, while U.S. sanctions, in place for more than 60 years, are further exacerbating the situation. The elderly is particularly affected. Pensions are barely enough to survive, and residential care facilities are overburdened. Children also suffer significantly from the scarcity of food. Schools struggle with a lack of supplies and power shortages. Care services and social support for people with disabilities are barely accessible anymore. Through our project, we support the communities of Cárdenas and Colón to mitigate malnutrition, undersupply, and water and electricity shortages, and to strengthen local social services.

Our local support

Our local partner organization, the Centro Cristiano de Reflexión y Diálogo-Cuba (CCRD-Cuba), is a nonprofit organization with 35 years of experience supporting communities, advocating for social causes, and serving disadvantaged groups. Together with CCRD-Cuba, we provide social services with urgently needed aid packages. We distribute food and hygiene kits to students, seniors, and people with disabilities. We also support particularly endangered families to prevent underweight and malnutrition in children. Using solar panels, we ensure the power supply to a nursing home so that water can be refined and meals can be cooked despite power outages. In this way, we reach precisely those people who are most severely affected by the crisis.

Projectinfo

Place/Region Cárdenas and Colón, Matanzas, Cuba
Partner Centro Cristiano de Reflexión y Diálogo-Cuba (CCRD-Cuba)
Activities
  • Distribution of hygiene and food packages to social services in the municipalities of Cárdenas and Colón
  • Installation of solar panels to ensure a reliable power supply for a nursing home
  • Direct support for particularly at-risk families through hygiene and food packages to prevent child malnutrition
Duration 01.04.2026 – 31.05.2026
Budget 50.000 €
Sponsor Aktion Deutschland Hilft

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